Illini's Flowers blooming once again: Illini freshman, 23, making transition from Class A baseball to defensive back
by Terry Bannon,
Tribune staff reporter
September 19, 2007, 9:00 PM CDT
CHAMPAIGN -- Bo Flowers sits on a bench adjacent to a green field marked with white chalk on a beautiful late-summer afternoon. He's relaxing next to the University of Illinois football practice field, his second field of dreams.
"I love baseball," Flowers said. "It was my first love, and that's what I focused on. I played baseball since I was 5."
But baseball didn't reciprocate for Flowers, a graduate of Walther Lutheran High School, so here he is, unwinding after a football practice, taking a shot at a second sport.
Flowers is a 23-year-old freshman for the Illini. He has worked his way into the rotation in the secondary as a backup safety, bringing with him the kind of life experience his teammates, some of whom are five years younger, can only dream about.
"We call him Uncle Bo," sophomore cornerback Dere Hicks said.
Flowers has heard it all, having also been called "Grandpa" and "Old Man." And he doesn't necessarily mind being told he looks like Gary Sheffield, except that Sheffield is 38 years old.
"Guys joke with me a lot," Flowers said. "I'm still young, only 23."
Youth, of course, is a relative concept.
Flowers would qualify for that description as a rookie in pro sports, and he might be one now had he chosen football out of high school or developed better as a baseball player.
At Walther Lutheran, which his family prevailed on him to attend over Proviso East, Flowers played football, basketball and baseball. He didn't expect recruiters from major football schools to come calling, but they did.
"The football recruiting caught me by surprise—it was overwhelming," he said. "But baseball was my first love."
Flowers initially accepted a baseball scholarship to Arizona State. But then the Detroit Tigers picked him in the fifth round of the 2002 amateur draft, putting his dream right in front of him. With a contract that included a $215,000 signing bonus and the promise to play for his college tuition later, Flowers was off to be a minor-league outfielder.
"It wasn't that hard of a decision," he said. "It came down to what I wanted to do. It was time to focus on one sport and see how far I could go."
After parts of two seasons in rookie ball, Flowers played Class A ball in Oneonta, N.Y., and concluded his stay in the Detroit organization at Western Michigan in 2004, where he put up the best numbers of his minor-league career, hitting .280 with four homers in 66 games.
Then, in February 2005, the Tigers sent him to the Cubs in the Kyle Farnsworth trade. The Cubs dispatched him to Class A Peoria, where he hit .238 with eight homers and 49 RBIs in 105 games.
But the Cubs released him in the spring of 2006. He hit .249 over five minor-league seasons. He concluded his pro career in the summer of '06 with the independent Rockford River Hawks of the Frontier League.
"I was doing it to keep playing," Flowers said. "A lot of teams I talked to were packed with outfielders. They told me they knew the situation I was in with the Cubs, that if something came up, they'd come and get me."
In reality, it was time to turn back to football.
Flowers played quarterback in high school, but five years of making throws from minor-league outfields pretty much ended that aspiration.
Flowers sent tapes from his high school days to Illinois, and coach Ron Zook was impressed enough to investigate whether he would be a good fit for his rebuilding program.
"We had him down a few times to get to know him," said Reggie Mitchell, the Illini's assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator. "If you bring in an older guy, you don't want a bad guy [around] a lot of young players.
"He has been everything we hoped he'd be. He brings some experience and maturity for our younger guys to see."
Flowers enrolled at Illinois in January. He began work on a degree in community health. He also worked at becoming a safety.
"I needed to go where my athleticism can take over faster, as opposed to technique," he said. "I felt like being a receiver or defensive back would be better.
"I played some [defensive back] in high school. This is my first time playing defense full-time. It's a lot of work getting into shape to play football, getting comfortable, a whole different look at things."
Flowers plays on the Illini's No. 1 "dime" defensive package, which employs six defensive backs. He is a backup in the nickel defense, which utilizes five. Sometimes he looks to his younger teammates for advice.
"He's an older guy, but he's actually a young guy in experience," Hicks said. "We have to show him some techniques."
Flowers reciprocates.
"He tries to keep us calm and poised on the sidelines when things don't go our way," Hicks said.
Flowers' presence is a bonus for Illinois. Because the Tigers are paying his tuition, the Illini aren't committing a scholarship to a player who will turn 24 before his freshman season ends.
And Flowers is thankful he has found a college football home that is giving him a second shot at making it in big-time sports.
"You can go make your career, dream, and if things don't work out, you can still go get a free education," Flowers said. "A lot of people can't do that."
Copyright © 2006, The Chicago Tribune
original link: Flowers blooming once again or Flowers blooming once again
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